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2018 Skoda Kodiaq RS Sets New (But Very Slow) Nurburgring Record

A whole 9 minutes and 29.84 seconds. That’s how much the Kodiaq RS needs in the hands of a talented racing driver such as Sabine Schmitz to cover the Green Hell from start to finish. Although it may seem slow, that’s a new Nurburgring record.
2018 Skoda Kodiaq RS 17 photos
Photo: Skoda
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“What kind of record?” For 7-seat SUVs, apparently, which goes to show how much marketing dictates what’s hot and what’s not in with the In Crowd. Criticism aside, the Kodiaq RS is a mid-size SUV with an oil-chugging engine, not a gazillion-horsepower supercar. And given these circumstances, hats off to Skoda.

The beating heart of the Kodiaq RS is the 2.0 BiTDI we know from the Passat and Tiguan, packing a pair of turbochargers, 240 PS (236 brake horsepower), and 500 Nm (369 pound-feet) of torque. Channeled to all four wheels by means of a dual-clutch transmission, all that grunt is more suited for grand touring rather than a pedal-to-the-metal lap of the world’s most famous racetrack.

Scheduled to go on sale in Europe and the United Kingdom by year’s end, the Kodiaq RS will be offered with seating for five or seven. And as it happens, Skoda doesn’t plan to go beyond the 2.0 BiTDI in the case of the Kodiaq. Next year will see the gentle giant introduce a plug-in hybrid powertrain, but that’s just about it.

Turning our attention back to the 7-seat SUV record, there’s room for improvement even within the Volkswagen Group. The Audi SQ7 is the culprit, but the twin-turbo V8 TDI-powered model isn’t the only contender. Mercedes-AMG has the GLS 63, BMW has the X5 M50d (and soon-to-debut X5 M), and the list goes on and on.

At the end of the day, is there anyone out there that would buy the Kodiaq RS over any of its competitors just because it holds the Nurburgring record in its category? The simple answer to that is no, more so if you look into what sort of people buy the Kodiaq in the first place.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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